Carlo Curley (b. 24 August 1952,[1] North Carolina, USA) is a flamboyant and popular classical concert organist.[2] Self-dubbed "the Pavarotti of the Organ",[3][4] he is one of only a few concert organists worldwide who support themselves exclusively by giving recitals, concerts and master classes, without any supplement from teaching or church position. Curley is cosmopolitan, and refers to three places as ‘home’: England, Scandinavia and North Carolina (USA).
He was born into a musical family and attended the North Carolina School of the Arts.[1] He subsequently enjoyed advanced tuition with Virgil Fox, Robert Elmore, George Thalben-Ball and coached privately with Arthur Poister.[1] He also was influenced greatly by long-time friend and confidant, Robert Noehren, for whom he often played. Noehren was full of praise for Curley’s talent and once wrote to a colleague in the early 1980s that “Curley could easily become the new Anton Heiller”. Curley’s basic approach to performing, while very much his own, pays homage primarily to that of Virgil Fox, aiming to make classical organ music popular to a wider audience, often including pieces from other classical genres arranged and transcribed by himself.
Curley is the first classical organist to perform a solo organ recital at the White House,[3] and he has also played before several European heads of state. He has toured extensively throughout the world, and has a large and loyal following. The Carlo Curley Concert Circle, based in the UK, was formed in 1990 by Cherry Stevens and organizes numerous trips with him throughout England and abroad.
Curley uses a substantial Allen touring organ where the venue lacks an instrument of sufficient scope to support his repertoire. Although unashamedly populist, he is acknowledged as a most gifted classical organist with an engagingly good-humored, interpretive, ‘big strings’ style and a sparkling sense of registration, including the use of his ‘trade-mark’ mechanical singing bird-cage, placed atop the organ console. His verve in performance is tremendous, imbued with enormous drive and color, once again in the manner of his teacher and friend, Virgil Fox. He has successfully recorded much of the classical organ repertoire for such international firms as RCA ‘Red-Seal’, ProArte, Rediffusion and Decca International.
Curley has recently expanded his performances to include Rodgers Organs.
He serves as patron for numerous music societies as well as for the newly formed British Academy of Music. He performed for the fourth time on April 26, 2008 on the Wanamaker Organ in the Grand Court of Macy’s Center City, Philadelphia, this instrument being the largest operational pipe-organ in the world. Curley is involved in organ design and construction and has served as advisor to numerous clients, including Melbourne City Council (Australia), and The Cube, Shiroishi (Japan).
His autobiography, In The Pipeline was published by HarperCollins in 1998.
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